Dragon Fruits Galore

Malaysian Dragon Fruit Growing Going Strong

2012-01-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

Despite disease outbreak in Malaysia; some dragon fruit farms managed to escape from the catastrophe.This is due to the patience and unrentless effort to combat the disease problems.Farmers had managed to move forward from their past experiences to uphold this lucrative industry.While researchers at their utmost doing research to support the industry be it in farm production or by products. Research must be geared up in order to find new innovations and technological advancements as to cater future problems like climate change and organic farming.
A technical visit was made to a 10-acre in Selangor, to observe what are the problems faced by the growers.There are few problems that I encountered;

1. Weed control is still a challenge and this is due to high cost in weedicides like BASTA. Manual circle weeding is very tedious and laborious.
2. High cost of fertilizers. Agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals have risen very high to almost 50% increase.
3. Farm management especially mechanization. Large farms should consider machinery as to ease in spraying and in-field transportation.Appropriate planting distant had to be considered and proper planning in field design should be from experts.Such as water source, sunrise and sunset (angle of the sun), etc.
4. Harvesting and grading. There should be grades for fruits like A (450-500 g), B(350-450 g),C (less than 300g), D (small).

Mr. Kelvin from Singapore and Dr.Zainudin during field visit

Dragon fruit farm on hillside

Intra rows - too close for machinery to go in

Dragon planting intercrop with soursop and chempedak. Note weed problems.

Organic fertilizer used.

Close planting of dragon fruits.

PECTINS FROM DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus polyrhizus) PEEL

2012-01-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

PECTINS FROM DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus polyrhizus) PEEL

NAZARUDDIN, R.1*, NORAZELINA, S.M.I.1, NORZIAH, M.H.2 and ZAINUDIN, M.3
1School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2School of Industry Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
3Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
*Email: naza@ukm.my

ABSTRACT

The extraction of pectin from a by-product of dragon fruit processing, was identified as an alternative source for commercial
pectin. In this work, dried alcohol-insoluble residues (AIR) of dragon fruit peels were treated separately with ammonium
oxalate/oxalic acid 0.25 %, pH 4.6, 85oC; HCl 0.03 M, pH 1.5, 85oC; and deionised water, 75oC. The pectin obtained
from these methods were compared in term of yield, color, gelling characteristic and chemical structure. The highest yield
for the extracted pectin from dragon fruit peels was 20.1 % (dry weight basis) by ammonium oxalate/oxalic acid extraction,
contained 11.2 % moisture and 6.9 % ash. Extraction by deionised water yielded 15.4 % pectin, 11.3 % moisture and 11.6
% ash. Whereas, the acid extraction gave the lowest yield 15 %), 11.1 % moisture and 12 % ash. The amount of pectin
from all extraction conditions were comparable to pectin obtained from commercial apple (12 %) or citrus (25 %). Gel
hardness test was performed for gelling properties measurement. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
was useful in the identifying dragon fruit pectins. Different conditions used in the extraction do not show a difference in
the pectin structure. With a good recovery yield and gelling properties, ammonium oxalate-extracted dragon fruit pectin
present good characteristics to be exploited industrially as food additive.
ABSTRAK
Pengekstrakan pektin daripada sisa pemprosesan buah naga telah dikenal pasti sebagai sumber alternatif bagi pektin
komersial. Dalam kajian ini, pepejal tak larut alkohol (AIR) kering daripada kulit buah naga diperlakukan secara berasingan
dengan ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik 0.25 %, pH 4.6, 85oC; HCl 0.03 M, pH 1.5, 85oC; dan air ternyahion, 75oC. Pektin
yang diperolehi melalui kaedah ini dibandingkan dari segi hasil, warna, ciri penggelan dan struktur kimia. Hasil pektin
tertinggi daripada kulit buah naga ialah 20.1 % (berat kering) menggunakan ekstraksi ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik,
mengandungi 11.2 % air dan 6.9 % abu. Ekstraksi menggunakan air ternyahion menghasilkan 15.4 % pektin, 11.3 % air
dan 11.6 % abu. Manakala, ekstraksi asid memberikan hasil yang terendah (15 %), 11.1 % air dan 12 % abu. Pektin yang
terhasil daripada semua keadaan pengekstrakan adalah setanding dengan pektin epal (12 %) atau sitrus (25 %) komersial.
Ujian kekerasan gel dilakukan bagi mengukur sifat penggelan. Spektroskopi inframerah (FTIR) amat berguna bagi mengenal
pasti pektin buah naga. Keadaan berbeza yang digunakan dalam pengekstrakan tidak menunjukkan perbezaan dalam struktur
pektin. Dengan perolehan hasil serta ciri penggelan yang baik, pektin buah naga hasil pengekstrakan menggunakan
ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik mempunyai ciri yang baik untuk diterokai secara industri sebagai bahan tambah makanan.
Key words: Dragon fruit; Pectin; Alcohol insoluble residue; Extraction conditions

Source: Malays. Appl. Biol. (2011) 40(1): 1P9E-C23TINS

Field Mechanization of Dragon Fruit Planting

2011-10-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Large scale dragon fruit plantation in Malacca

To plant dragon fruits in a large plantation ; there is no doubt mechanization is very necessary. It is a very important tool to speed up management activities such as spraying of insecticide,weeding, fertilization and so on.However, what is the optimum size of plantation that need to be considered before machines to be introduced? As machines are very expensive and needs to be maintenance, careful decision has to be made so that the investment is profitable.Otherwise, you put unnecessary budget that would incur the return.

The size,type and power of the machines have to sought from experts or experience person in order to buy the correct tool. We cannot just copy or buy from hearsay what machines are needed. Think twice.

Using boom sprayer to spray foliar fertilizer, insectides and fungicides

Dr.Zainudin inspecting dragon fruit plantation

Horticulture Research Centre Director Tengku Malik explaining something to visitors.

National Horticulture Conference 2011

2011-10-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

The Malaysian National Horticulture Conference (NHC) will be held from 18th to 20th October 2011 in Melaka; 150 km from Kuala Lumpur. This the 3rd NHC so far. See here for more info http://nhc2011.mardi.gov.my/. The three-day conference will discuss matters in horticulture industry in Malaysia with the theme Malaysian Horticulture:Enhancing Production,Enhancing Marketing.Many speakers will be invited to give talks and views on horticulture. A post-tour conference is to held to dragon fruits farm in Melaka.
I will be presenting a poster entitles "Dragon fruits planting materials:Specifications according to SIRIM". See below

Poster at NHC 2011, 18 to 20 October 2011, Melaka

Growing Dragon Fruits in India

2011-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to visit India.Visiting India is not as easy as I thought.You have to get a visa before entering the country. It is exciting for me as this is my first visit there.
I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai which took about three and half hours. It was raining when I reached there at 10 pm local time. At Chennai Airport I have to go at least one hour and half for immigration clearance compared to KLIA for only two minutes.
I have to book hotel in Chennai before departure and it is compulsory.The hotel (3 star) was OK but very expensive RM450 per night (USD150).Mind you.
The next morning we drove to Thirupati via Redhills and Thiruvallur, passing villages and small towns. I saw a lot of poverty in Southern India where pupils could be seen without shoes to schools, cramped in vehicles and so on. Most of the vehicles had air horns-horning is a must. Unlike, in Malaysia the pupils owned at least 3-4 pairs of shoes per year and transporation is easy.
Roughly, I could see paddy fields, mangoes and sugar planting areas. Some of the areas were abundant which were not cultivated. As I reached the small town, it was very crowded due to only two-way lane. Shop-lots were very small and not organised. I saw a lot cattle lying on the roads with dungs uncleaned. At last I reached Thirupati the capital city of Andra Pradesh.

This city is very big and quite clean compared to Chennai. I saw agriculture research station, universities and big temples here. I was told the the Tamils always come here to worship and bald their heads.

The climate in Thirupati was a little bit cooler and sunnier. The soil was fertile and it was grown with peanuts before. My mission is to see whether the climate and soil is suitable for dragon fruits growing there in Andra Pradesh. From my observation, dragon fruits is very suitable to be grown there basically the soil is good and not waterlogged. If dought occurs, water could be tapped from groundwater. Also, there was a lot of organic matter from cowdungs.Labour is readily available and there are many areas potentially to be grown. I was told that mangoes price was 20 INR (RM1.40).per kg. and much of the mango areas were not looked properly. Mangoes was not flowering at that time and fruiting once a year compared to dragon fruits which is flowering and fruiting all year round.
I could conclude that;
1. Introduction of dragon fruits to India is very potential and profitable business IF provide with good management.
2.Consumers always like to try new exotic fruits particularly if they know medicinal value.
3.Dragon fruits could bear fruits very early - one year after planting.
4.The climate is suitable, organic fertilizer, labour is available.
5.Market demand is very huge.

More readings (in Malay version ) at http://zainudinhajimeon.blogspot.com/

Some of the pics from my visit. If there are any queries I am happy to entertain ; pls forward your email to zainudinhaji@gmail.com or simply call me at +060123535411.

Mr.Ali showing me the area to be planted with dragon fruits.

Workers in preparation of concrete poles for fencing

Clay mineral soil suitable for dragon fruits.

Self-made concrete pole

Behind-some of the fruits like papaya, watermelons, sold in the supermarket

Integrated Farming With Dragon Fruits in Selangor,Malaysia

2011-04-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Dragon fruit planting using single-pole technique

The farm is about one and half hour drive from Kuala Lumpur, somewhere in Kalumpang, Selangor. This farm planted dragon fruits for about 40 acres .They used to plant dragon fruits one- foot apart using trellis system.The inter row distant was 6 feet. However, they could not make it because for about year the system could support the heavy branches of dragon fruits which was estimated about 40 to 60 kg per plant. They replanted the again using single-pole having four plants attached. It seems that this technique workable.

Discussion with the farmer Mr.Lim about foliar fertilizers and fungicides used.

Fertilization was done both using granular (6:10:30 or 13:10:20) and foliar.Granular fertilizer was given 10-20 gram for every two week for every pole and foliar was given biweekly plus with Mancozeb. The rate of foliar spray was 1.5 L foliar fertilizer plus 1 pack of Mancozeb (1 kg) to 100 litres of water. The farmer gave very little fertilizer but very frequent. Disease surveillance was done daily scouted by 2 workers.

Dragon fruits with agarwood (5 feet tall 2 years old)

Dragon fruits with pineapple

Newspaper cutting showing price of agarwood grades -Grade A (MYR 25,000 about USD 7,5000 per kg)

The farmers integrated the farm with agarwood with planting distant 5 ft X 5 ft. In Malay agarwood is gaharu. This farmer planted 20,000 agarwood plants intercropped with dragon fruits.Besides, he also intercropped part of the dargon fruits areas with pineapple.

With his initiative, the farmer also built 20 X 100 ft. swiftlet bird house four storey high. Swiftlet industry is booming in Malaysia with govenment support. The bird house is only eight month old and managed to harvest swiftlet nest, however the investment is very high.When the bird house has stabled, the farmer can shake legs. Swiflet nest price at MYR 3,000 (USD 1000) per kg (raw) and MYR 10,000 (USD2500) (cleaned)

Note: USD1=MYR 3.(MYR stands for Malaysian Ringgit)

A four-storey high swiftlet bird house at the back

For more infomation regarding to this please feel free to contact me at zainudinhaji@gmail.com .

Technical Visit to Semarang , Indonesia

2011-03-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is my second visit to Indonesia. My first visit was two years ago i.e. Jakarta and Bandung. I would like to see their living style,social,culture and landscape in the country. I noticed that Indonesia is a beautiful country blended with many types people of all kinds.Each country has their own strength and niche. I presume that the competition between each other in this country is much greater than mine.

Back to my visit to Semarang was a fruitful one where I was brought to see farms around Curuj, Ngebrug and also farms organised by Obor Tani in Wakanarto and Genting.

In Curuj, we visited a 700 acre- clove plantation called Cengkih Zanzibar owned by Pak Budi. During my visit, most of the plants were 10-15 years old with heigth of 3 to 5 meters. One problem I noticed is picking the flowers during harvesting. It requires about 3,000 workers to pluck all the flowers during that time in the entire farm. Most of the clove flowers were consumed by the cigarettes company. From agronomic perspectives, the farm should find ways of how to improve production, let say high density planting, mechanization and so forth.

I also visited a distillation unit nearby which extract clove oil. Matured and dried cloves leaves were brought to the unit then boiled later, then the steam was cooled in a pond and condensed. The oil was separated and collected in containers arranged cascadingly.

There was also has a dragon fruit which consisted of about 2 hectares in Curuj. The growth of the plants is extremely good with good agro-management and maintenance, however the fruits is still small i.e. 300 gm . What I noticed is that organic fertilization should be increased and given at least once in three month (3 kg) because dragon is a heavy feeder, if this is not given then flowering and yield decreased. Since this field is free from diseases , then the planting materials can be used as cuttings in other farms. They

should follow the technical specifications in the guidelines which I had passed to them.

I also visited an agro tourism farm in Plantera where many types of fruits were planted. Fruits like durian, longan (mata kucing-Nephelium ), anona, dragon fruits, pomelo, rambutans were planted. We were brought in a tram assisted with their staffs. My observations was that the durians were infected by Phytopthora disease which very common in durians. They have taken preventions using copper fungicides but some branches were still infected. Infected branches or stems should scrapped off and cleaned, then paint with Bordeaux mixture. Organic fertilizer should also be improved.
As far as dragon fruit is concerned, about 30-50% of the farm is infected with diseases.Common disease like bacteria and fungus were obeserved and also yield was low.Stern actions should be taken like increase organic fertilization and foliar

applications as the plants branches were not thick and less green compared from previous farm in Curuj.

For mata kucing or longan, generally the growth is still ok, however I noticed there symptoms of leaf falling, dryness and yellowing. I suspected the roots must be infected by diseases, nematodes or whats not. The infected tree should be uprooted to see what is the real cause of infection.
As for anona, there are plants which is less growth as shown in reduced leaf numbers.Leaf foliar analysis should be done in order to ascertain the problems.

Then, I went to Wakarnoto which is 3 hour journey from Semarang. This is a 50 acre farm will be planted with dragon fruits that will be planted by farmers. ( I don't know where will they get cutting planting materials). The land has been cleaned and pillars will be installed. What I noticed is that nearby trees should be cut as dragon fruits need 100% sunlight. Although the land is fertile but organic fertilization is still needed 3 month once. A reservoir on top of a hill had already been built by Yayasan Obor Tani where there are plentiful of water.

.

I also had the chance to go to Genting,where a successful 50-acre longan project owned by farmers.The farmers were proud to show their farms. During my visit, the plants were not bearing fruits.We were also shown home-based products like fried-mushrooms made by fellow farmers

Finally, we go to Hortimart a fruit farm owned personnally by Pak Budi. A place where you can eat fruits and lunch. I was given a chance to talk on dragon fruits and share knowledge and ideas pertaining to this industry together with the chiefs, growers there.

I also went to Jogjakarta to see Chandi Borobodur, a world heritage. Besides, I also saw debris of the volcanic ash of Gunung Merapi which erupted a few months ago and houses which had been damaged very badly.

Technical Visit to a 65-acre Dragon Fruit Plantation In Sibu, Sarawak

2011-03-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to visit to one of the biggest dragon fruit plantation in Sibu, Sarawak, East Malaysia. My visit was welcomed by its farm's owner Mr. Yong Ung Tung. The purpose of my visit is a) to observe general performance of the 65-acre farm. b) to identify some problems occurred in the farm and c) to make some remedifications (if any) concerning to my findings.

Here are my findings.

1.The farm is badly affected by soft rot diseases caused mainly by bacteria and fungus. However, the main disease such as antrachnose has been controlled entirely with good spraying practice with correct chemical application.
2.Farm sanitation is good where all the discarded branches and plant parts which have pruned were thrown away far from the farm. This farm had 20 workers with a supervisor.
3.The farm use fertilization with NPK ratios 15:15:15 which is not suitable for a 6-year plants. This might affect mainly flowering and fruiting.
4.Most of the farm were installed with lightings that is cost MR 4,000 per month only to enhance flowering.
5.There are a lot of weeds and some plants suffered from nutrient deficiency such nitrogen (N).

My suggestions.

1. Fertilization with NPK 12:12:17:2 is recommended and flower hormone is needed to improve flowering and fruiting as well to reduce high lighting cost.
2.Organic fertilizer is needed is to improve tree performance in some areas.
3.Continue with good farm practice and farm surveillance is encouraged for early disease detection.
4.Should the farm is required to sell planting materials, it should follow strictly guidelines recommended by Malaysian Standards (SIRIM).The area should be disease-free and verified.
5.Engage an expert to advise if the farm is to be sustained.

My colleagues Dr.Zainal, Wan Zaki, My self (in red T-shirt) and Mr.Ung Tung

Mr.Ung Tung,owner of 65-acre dragon fruit farm

General view of the farm

Mr.Kok Peng (Ah Beng,from Penang), Dr.Zainal , Mr.Ung Tung and My Self (in red)

Significant effects of lighting which improve dragon fruit yield.

Product of the farm labelled "Planters Harvest"

Please forward your emails to zainudinhaji@gmail.com if you need to know more.

Metabolites Studies in Dragon Fruits (Abstract).

2011-01-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

YS Sew1, J Baharom 1, M Yaakob 2 and Z Meon 2

1Biotechnology Research Centre, 2Station Management Centre,
Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Research Institute
MARDI Headquarters, 43400 Serdang, Selangor D.E., Malaysia
Correspondence: sewyshin@mardi.gov.my

Background

Pitayas had gained much interest in society because of its exotic features, attractive colour, nutritional value and pleasant taste. Phenolic compounds and high phytoalbumin antioxidants value of pitayas are believed to prevent the formation of cancer-causing free radicals. However, research on the molecular studies of pitayas is very lacking and gene information of pitayas particularly in regards to their health benefit phyto-chemicals deposited in the public databases is extremely limited. With the aim to enrich genes information and identify genes that associated with secondary metabolism of red pitaya, we have carried out transcriptome study on a local variety of red pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus).

Results

Red pitayas were collected from MARDI Kundang Station with different ripening index. Total RNA of red pitaya fruits with 35 days after anthesis (DAA) were extracted and purified to get high quality total RNA. The purified total RNA was then subjected to Solexa sequencing using paired-end mRNA-seq method. The mRNA-seq sequencing results showed that total number of red pitaya paired-end reads obtained was 18,530,028 sequences and total number nucleotides obtained was 1,389,752,100nt. Sequence assembly using Velvet software revealed a total of 106,867 nodes. After the sequence filtering process (set value as >80bp/node), we obtained 62,333 nodes. The homology search on the filtered sequences against non-redundant nucleic acid database (NR) showed that 31,423 nodes with significant E-value≤10-5. It was found that there were at least 97 nodes mapped to secondary metabolic pathways via Blast2Go analysis, particularly the biosynthesis pathways of phenylproparoid, betalain, flavonoid, carotenoid and monoterpenoid.

Conclusion

The identification of genes involved in secondary metabolism and their corresponding biochemical pathways will enable us in harnessing the potential of red pitaya as functional food with optimal level of beneficial phyto-chemicals and also to control the production of those phyto-nutrients through genetic manipulation.

Dragon Fruit Farm In Bukit Mertajam

2011-01-25T00:53:00.000-08:00

A visit was made to observe the conditions of two dragon farms in Bukit Mertajam, Penang - red and white varieties. Suprisingly, that both farms were in good conditions meaning that they free from diseases. The yield was about 1.1 ton per ac. per month which is very high. Ex-farm price was good which is about RM5.00 per kg. Some of the pictures of the farm as below;

The farmer showing his farm and explained some ideas pertaining dragon fruit growing.

Some of the chemicals using to control pests. Newly blended.

Agarwood trees intercropped with dragon fruits (3 years old) -can not be seen from far.

Agarwood (gaharu) seedlings ready to be planted .

From my observations, I may conclude that.

1. The sanitation and crop husbandary was good where diseases and pests surveillance were carried daily.
2. Trained workers is very necessary where quick action is taken whenever needed.
3. Good input particularly fertilizer quality.
4. Good spraying techniques using boom sprayers to cover most of plant parts.
5. Only reserved visitors allowed. Not opened to all as to control disease and pests .

The farmers was very happy with the farms as he has won twice in the farm competition that was held recently. I may summarize that the farm could produce quality planting materials as long it follows SIRIM standard.

It is good to know that this farmer also planted agarwood (gaharu) intercropped with dragon fruits. This is done as to increase farm income in the future. Matured agarwood will fetched up to RM40,000 (fourty thousand) per kg once marketable after seven years to make perfumes.
Should anyone interested to know more about this farm please kindly email me zainudinhaji@gmail.com.
We are happy to help you in whatever way we can.

Planting Materials Specifications on Dragon Fruits (Bahasa Melayu Version)

2010-12-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

SIRIM had already published planting materials specification in Bahasa Melayu. It can found at http://www.msonline.gov.my/catalog.php?source=production&score=checked. We are working very hard to submit the English Version and should be ready soon for approval. I hope those people down there be a little bit patience to get a copy.

From what I noticed at MAHA 2010 not a single booth shows dragon fruits. It is completely vanished from the farm or market or right now it is not fruiting due to rainy season? don't know exactly. I hope this dragon fruit farming will make a comeback and makes eveybody happy.

MAHA International Is Around the Corner

2010-11-14T16:22:00.001-08:00

For those of you who have time, don't miss MAHA International which will be started from 26 Nov until Dec.5. This year there will be a lot of shows locally and abroad. But one thing, the weather is going a bit wet so please bring the necessary items you.

For those we had not been here, please come early and please bring enough money to buy plants, books, handicrafts, foods, etc. We expect more than 1 million visitors to come.

This is a public event so dont miss the boat.

I will be there almost all the time pls contact me if you need assistance.

My Talk

2010-07-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

I had given a talk on dragon fruits. The audience was good and recepetive. Many questions asked of how to survive dragon planting in Malaysia. My response was that Dragon cultivation is not a "Touch and Go" farming, the grower should vision themselves where he/she is going to bring the business.
My abstract is as below;

Abstract

Malaysia is blessed with good tropical climate. Many crops can be grown like rubber, oil palm, paddy and cocoa besides fruits. One of the recent newcomers in the Malaysian fruit industry is dragon fruits. After many trials and errors, dragon cultivation has made its niche in the Malaysian fruit industry. Although its investment is lucrative however, there are many challenges lie ahead to enhance its production.
This paper will discuss several issues pertaining to the industry and strategies to be taken in order to move forward. Accredited planting materials and resistant varieties are the major limiting factors that hinder its future expansion and sustainability. The dragon fruit cultivation is this country could again be profitable and rewarding if good agro-management measures are sought properly.

Bad Time

2010-06-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

I went to Cameron Highlands (CH) for a day to see the agricultural activities there. Most of the farms were growing highlands vegetables. The temperature is cool which is about 15-24 C. There are a lot of flowers been grown too. The reports about CH that I read a lot was about excessive land expansion not according to environmental procedures that has caused a lot of erosion. Besides, water quality has been spoilt due to excessive usage of chemicals and fertilizers. CH has been over populated and expansion should controlled by responsible government agencies. Farmers should look other lands with similar conditions for temperate vegetable growing. From CH we by-passed Blue Valley to Lojing Highlands.

I made a visit to one of dragon fruit farm in Lojing Highlands, somewehere in Gua Musang, in the state of Kelantan where a dragon fruit was planted. Sadly to say ...Oh poor, what a bad time... The 200 acre-farm was full of diseases. I think the owner must have lost a lot of money. But according to one of the workers there, the farm was producing very well for about a year or two, then disease came in. From what I obsereved nothing much could be help, because most of the plants were infected although the plants survive. To me this farm is at stage 4 - badly damaged and not economic to maintain or retain the plants in the field. Other crops should be planted what else.. maybe oil palm is the best solution.

Standards of Planting Materials Specifications.

2010-05-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have just finished preparing Standards of Planting Materials for Dragon Fruits with SIRIM. The Bahasa Malaysia version has completed for submission and public circulation. The English version has completed with a few corrections and ammendments.

We hope that the Standards for preparing planting materials will be used as guidelines for nurseries and growers soon. This is in particular to avoid unscruplous sellers to cheat growers with unauthentic planting materials.

Many farmers have been cheated by irresponsible brokers and sellers to promote their planting materials. This has caused many farms to 'close shop' and cannot operate due to low quality planting materials.

So if you are interested to invest in this lucrative farming, my advice is that solicit or ask the right fellas so that you are been conned.

Good luck.

M.A.H.A.2010

2010-04-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Show (MAHA) 2010 will be held from end of November to Mid December 2010 this year. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture recently over radiobroadcast. This year will attract 2 million visitors to the show which will be held at the MAEPS in Serdang, Malaysia. So those who did not where the place is , please browse Google Earth.

This is the biggest agricultural event in Malaysia which was once launched in 2008. It has attracted about 1 million visitors then. We expect a lot will turn up this year.

There will be local and international booths from all agriculture sectors, besides naming champion farmer of the year, fisherman of the year, and livestock rearer of the year and many more events. Events from livestock, fishery and agriculture, state pavillions, and whats not.

As time passed by, many improvements have been made especially exposition halls, fields, transportation and so on. One must bring the neccesary items like umbrella, drinks, etc wear sports shoe, T-shirt, stroller or trolley to buy plants etc. Trams will be there to bring you around in 500 acre expo. Don't miss.

The event to held is just next to my office. What a pleasure...Welcome to Malaysia.

Pls contact me if you happen to visit.

Recent Visit to Dragon Fruit Farms

2010-02-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

I was invited by my friends to visit dragon fruits in Negri Sembilan.This states had one of the largest farms in Malaysia besides Johor before. From my visits I could make a few conclusions .
1. Farms should have a good sanitation and crop husbandary to control disease. This is particularly pruning techniques and weed control.Bacterial and fungal diseases are easily carried by vectors such as plant hoppers or ants that carried the spores from one plant to another.Therefore such insects should be get rid off either by sprayings of insecticides, fungicides etc.

Alex and Lai accompanied me during the visit

2. Applictions of chemical insectides or fungicide plus foliar fertilzer should be mechanized. This is ensure all plants obtain all neceassary nutrients needed.

Healthy dragon fruit plants need to do surveillance every day or every other day as to ascertain no disease occurred.

Mechananized chemical appplication ofd insecticides,fungicides and foliar fertilizers using motorised spraryers

3. Farms that has infected should take a quick action, dont wait the disease has infected all the farms especially due festive seasons

Insects like Helopeltis can easily spread the disease due to its sucking habit.

Infected farms should take fast action to eradicate the disease otherwise the farm will collapsed.

Blog Awards

2009-12-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

My blog was featured in the Award Blog (http://garden-planters.com/blog_awards/index.php?id=1722). I am grateful that someone apprecciate my work. I will try to add more info to this blog coz right now I quite tight with my work.My other blog could be read at http://about-heliconia.blogspot.com/.

Dragon Fruit Drinks

2009-10-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Previously, I have posted about dragon fruits drinks. Dragon fruits could also be self-made or processed as enzymes. The process is quite simple and easy to make.

Step 1

Thoroughly clean a large glass jar using hot water and mild soap. Rinse thoroughly. Allow to air dry.Wash and air dry fresh and ripe fruit. Remove the peels, which can be used in a vegetable enzyme for cleaning or in compost. NOTE: Use a 3-1 ratio. This means Three (3) part fruit. One (1) part sugar (or honey).

Step 2
Using your chosen fruit: pineapples, orange, lime, raspberry, lemon and apple are good choices. AS YOU CUT, layer the pieces of fruit in the jar. Do not lie the fruit outside of the jar or place on a counter. This can cause contamination. If you’re using pineapple, remove the eyes. Do not put the eyes into the fruit layer. Do not allow flies near your operation! The first layer of fruit should be 1/3 of the bottle.
Step 3

Add a 1/3 layer of brown sugar (or honey) to the top of the fruit.

Step 4

Repeat this procedure another 2-3 times, alternating fruit and sugar as if making lasagna until the jar is full. The last layer should be sugar (or honey).IMPORTANT: Allow breathing room at the top of the jar. This allows the process to release natural gases.

Step 5
FERMENTATION
During the first two weeks every 3 days shake the jar and stir the contents.

Step 6
Re-seal the container, but not too tight. If you plan on using the enzyme for chronic illness: Allow the fruit to ferment for 1 month.For the best results allow the fruit to ferment for 4 months at which time the ph level should be 4.

Step 7
HARVESTINGPour the enzyme into bottles glass bottles for storing using cheesecloth and funnel.

Step 8
PRESERVATIONAlthough refrigeration isn’t necessary, the enzyme should be stored in a cool dry place.

Step 9
CONSUMPTIONIdeally taken an hour prior to eating, place a tablespoon of enzyme under your tongue and swallow slowly. This is said to stimulate the nerves to promote blood circulation.Fruit enzymes are the ultimate healthy remedy

Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_5149311_make-fruit-enzyme.html

Belated Technical Paper

2009-06-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I have written a technical paper which was presented in Plant Physiology Conference in Kota Kinabalu Sabah. The title of the paper was Challenges in Dragon Fruit Growing in Malaysia. It was co-authored with one of my colleagues.

Phytoalbumin in Dragon Fruits Seeds

2009-04-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

One of the report I have read that dragon seeds contains phytoalbumin besides antioxidants. The seeds are found in the pulp of the fruit. These are very small, colored black, and covered by mucilage.This is very interesting that this substance can cure cancer. This is an added value to dragon fruits to become medicinal plants. So far reports have shown that cancer are difficult to fight due to free radicals. Then, please encourage consumers to eat a lot of dragon fruits.It has alot of medicinal value in it.

Moreover, it enhances metabolism and improves memory, digestion and immune system. It also helps maintain clear vision, reduces fat, bad cholesterol, hypertension and blood glucose, strengthens bones and teeth development, promotes tissue development, improves appetite, moisturizes and smoothens skin, and is good for the liver.

Other benefits in dragon fruits includes;

Rich in phytoalbumins, highly regarded for their antioxidant qualities.

Valuable in the prevention of cancer-causing free radicals, lowering blood pressure and preventing heart disease.

Rich in vitamin C and minerals.

A good source of natural dietary fiber, promoting regularity and weight loss.

Low in calories.

While, antioxidants can put off cholesterol from leaving their scratch on your body, they can also be used for a range of other problems. For instance, are you losing your vision at an early age? To your surprise, antioxidants can stop potential eye ailments such as cataracts. They also maintain your immune system in top shape, as it protects viruses from slowing you down. For this cause alone, antioxidants are amazing resources. They not only sustain your health, but they permit you to stop the hands of time, particularly if you are already noticing wrinkles and high blood pressure.

Obviously antioxidants are essential, but where can they be found? For decades, the average consumer understood that these chemicals were only found in luxurious organic foods. However, they can be found in the most simple of products. Broccoli, for example, is a brilliant source full of antioxidants. With the talent to lock doors on possible cancers and heart illness, these antioxidants indeed show your body that health is appropriate. Moreover, berries, spinach, and soy also have antioxidants. Since these foods are quite ordinary around the earth, anyone can easily buy these high in antioxidant foods at their local shop.

Source :http://irizzeyes.multiply.com/journal/item/30;

http://www.antioxidantsinfo.org/

Antioxidant activity (ORAC) and total phenolics

2009-02-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Antioxidant activity (ORAC) and total phenolics of dragon fruits and fruits and vegetables compared to the selected tropical fruits

Fruit µM TE/g puree Total phenolic µg GA/g puree
--------------------------------------------------------------
blueberries 14 - 38 1810 - 4580
black raspberry 28.2 2670
blackberry 22.4 2260
garlic 19.4
red raspberry 18.2 2340
red guava 16.7 2317
strawberry 15.36
strawberry 14.9 1030
carambola 12.94 2208
spinach 12.6
white guava 9.9 1589
plum 9.49
red dragon 7.59 1076
orange 7.5
grape,red 7.39
mame 6.56 1010
kiwi fruit 6.02
lychee 5.42 770
grapefruit, pink 4.83
grape, white 4.46
longan 3.31 482
white dragon 2.96 523
banana 2.21
apple 2.18
ripe mango 2.17 509
carrot 2.1
tomato 1.89
green mango 1.49 50

Revolutionize Your Cultivation in Dragon Fruits

2009-02-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Normally farmers in Malaysia planted dragon fruits 3 meter X 3 meter, which makes 500 poles or stake to an acre using about 2,000 cuttings. However, with a high density planting concept (close planting) more plants could be planted to a unit area up to 10,000 plants per acre.
I have seen a farm which practice this technique. In this way yield could be increase tremendously.

I'm Back Again

2009-01-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

I have been away for a month and half and now I'm back again. From I what I observed my visitor's counter has hit 10K. Not bad.
Actually during that absence I was doing my hajj pilgrimage in Makkah , Saudi Arabia. There I performed my prayer, thawaf, saie, wukuf , mabit and jamarat . During my presence, about 4 million people were there. They have to wear ihram ( 2- piece white seamless clothes for males). Every body is equal - rich or poor, strong or weak etc. No differences in races. Hajj video here.

The food in Saudi is very expensive . Fruits like banana may fetch up to USD 2 per kg. Apple -1 USD per piece.

The weather was extremely hot and hazy. In Madinah , 400 km north of Makkah. the weather was very cool in the morning - up 8 C.

Fruits like dragon fruits was hardly seen.However there is very great potential to export there.

Nutrient Deficiency on Dragon fruits.

2008-11-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Nutrient defieciency is defined as lack of nutrient. There are basically 16 elements needed by the plants. They are N,P,K, Ca, Mg,Fe, Mg,Mn,Cu ,Bo etc. Of those N is very important . There are needed by the plants for growth and metabolism.

In one case I have seen dragon fruits suffered from N deficiency symptoms. This occurred in Kelantan, in the NW state of Malaysia - the soil is of bris type i.e. sand which is lack of organic matter. The symptom is shown in the yellowing of the whole mature branch and no disease detected.

If you encounter that problem, one should give a lot of organic manure or foliar spray .

The pic above how the symptoms look like. It is not actually disease but it is lack of N. If this matter continues the branch might dies and attack by pathogen which finally caused severe disease infection. Therefore, it should be prunned and cut off.

Should you have the same problem then you can email or contact me.

Pseudohaematuria

2008-11-05T17:08:00.001-08:00

Do you know what is Pseudohaematuria? Pseudohaematuria can be due to dragonfruit ingestion
Have you eaten Dragon fruit lately? If you gorge on the stuff, be warned. Ingestion of Dragon fruit can cause a reddish discoloration of your urine and stool. This was discussed in the Dobbs forum recently, and for the unwary I guess it could be quite alarming. A quick Google search shows that local medical bloggers have already mentioned this.

Jellio also had a similar personal encounter.

Some other foodstuff which can discolor your urine: beetroot blackberries other naturally red foods carrots

Other causes of discolored urine: Medications (e.g. some laxatives, certain antibiotics eg rifampicin and some anti cancer drugs like anthracyclines)

Dyes Reddish discoloration of urine may of course be due to blood (haematuria) or haemoglobin (haemoglobinuria). Urine may be dark or tea colored in liver disease.

As always, you should consult your doctor, especially if there is any doubt.
Useful info link: Urine color

Antioxidant-Rich Product from Red Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus)

2008-11-04T01:23:00.000-08:00

We have put up one poster on the above entitles " Starter Culture Development for Antioxidant-Rich Product from Red Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus)" at one of our conference next week. I hope the poster will be accepted by the panel to gain at least one medal either silver or bronze. Hope for the best.

Dragon Fruit Planting in Malaysia-It is At Crossroad?

2008-10-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

There is so much problem of planting of dragon fruit planting in Malaysia.Partly, because it is not in the crop policy of the country. Actually one must remember that there are 15 fruit types been prioritized by the government in the National Agriculture Policy (NAP).They include starfruit,papaya,guava, nangka, mangosteen,durian,manggo, etc . These fruits are been gazetted to be planted in the so call in 'Agroclimatological Zones' meaning crops suitable to the climate.The government will support infrastructure, loans and technical needs to the farmers and agencies interested.

Of late dragon fruits have attracted many investors to dump their money and many get caught. Basically there need a lot to done- FAST and QUICK

1. Disease and resistant planting materials
2.Crop management practices need to be improved
3.Post harvest handling and storage
4.Transfer of technology should be fast and efficient.

We dont want to be become like 'fire brigade phenomena'. That is once things done for example planting in a very big acre, disease came and did not know how to tackle the problem or during glut production did not know where to market the fruits.

Although there are already Cooperatives at national and state levels, still not moving smoothly.We should work harder make this industry look more lucrative and better than other farming.

One-Day Seminar on Dragon Fruits

2008-10-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

There was a seminar on dragon fruit which was attended by 170 participants. There were two guest speakers from Vietnam namely; Ms Phong and Dr Hoa.

Comparing dragon fruit production in Vietnam which is about 10,000 hectares with Malaysia with 1,000 hectares. This means that Malaysia has one-tenth of what Vietnam has.However, Malaysia has many years to go before it can overtake Vietnam; of course through R&D , and collaboration with various parties concern. My hypothesis is that oil palm and rubber which was once brought by the British colonial was not a Malaysian crop before, but they were from Africa and Brazil, respectively. Through research and continuous hard work, Malaysia has achieved to be the world producer - similarly that goes with dragon fruit. I believe with the technology that we own; we could meet our target and plans supported by our progressive farmers , entrepreneurs as well as 'big brothers' to venture and various parties concerned.

For what I forsee should Malaysia become the world player in this game, she has to come with its own disease free planting materials-back to basic. Educate the farmers on crop husbandry, sanitaion as well as post harvest handling. There are many farmers who had 'burnt their fingers' I must say. But if the transter of technology(TOT) is at par ; then I am pretty sure this goal can be achieved.

Back to Vietnam, they had succesfully achieved EUREGAP markets and still working on GLOBALGAP. There are more things need to be learnt and I am confident that we can make short cuts here and there before we can stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with them.

Latest Research Paper in World Food Net

2008-10-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

Our paper was selected to be in world-food. net in the latest edition Journal of Food Agriculture and Environment Vol.6 entitles "Growth , yield and fruit quality of red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) fruit as affected by plant support system and intercropping with long bean (Vigna sinensis). by WFL Publisher. Abstract can be read here.

(Those who are interested and wish to have a full paper please let me know.)

Visit To Dragon Fruit Farm-40 acre

2008-10-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have taken a video shot from one of the farms that I visited recently. This 10 -ac farm consisted of one-year plants that is well drained. The total acreage of this farm is 40 acres. The plants are about 1-5 years old. The management is good and they fertilize with organic manure.They planted with red and white varieties. The demand is very good and the supply could not meet the targets.
Another thing I would to stress is that drainage is very important if the land is very flat.In case of heavy rain or shower the water should be drained away quickly. Otherwise, this may cause damage to the rooting system.

Yellow Dragon Fruits

2008-09-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

The most popular dragon fruits varieties are red and white. However, of late other varieties are in demand. I manage to propagate yellow dragon variety- about 2000 cuttings . Only the skin is yellow, the flesh is white and very sweet. Except the seeds are a little bit bigger than the two varieties. The plant is slender and the thorns are a bit smaller.

The above pic shows the shape of yellow dragon fruits and how the dragon fruit cuttings are rooted in small polybags. They are nutured , watered and looked after.

After MAHA 2008

2008-08-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

It was an exciting moment for farmers through out Malaysia. MAHA is the platform where everyone could see agricultural activities carried out by private sectors, farmers , government agencies, universities etc. Oversea and international participants include Australia, UK, India, China, Indonesia, Denmark and others .
The acceptance from the public was overwhelming. More than 1 Million people turned up for the 13-day exhibition.
I manage to put two posters one on" Disease control dragon fruits in farmer's farm, the other poster on Heliconia growing as landscape plants. My poster is in Malay (Bahasa Melayu)

Dragon Fruits Made Good Entry For MAHA 2008

2008-08-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

I have become one of the panel judges for Fruit Section for the last five years. Fruits that enter the contest includes durian,nangka,citrus, pineapple, salak, pulasan, bananas, mangos, guava,wax apple, dragon fruits.They came from all over the states except Sarawak. Sarawak has never enter the fruits contest for so long. The fruits that came to the contest is from the various farms that was selected previously. All those farms are registered through Department Of Agriculture (DOA). There are 2 categories of assesement Farm leve (70%) Products (30%).

Dragon fruits seems this time had the largest entry i.e 8. I was suprised that there are different types of red dragon fruits judging from the scales of the fruits. There are variety which have less scales or bracts compared to the normal red ones. The second largest entry is pineapple and citrus i.e 5 followed by mangos 4 entry.

Those who win will received reward from the Prime Minister on the 12 th of August; appreciation and recognition for their hard work.

Good Dragon Fruits Farms

2008-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I visited two farms nearby which are considered good. The most important in keeping good farm is

1) Fertilization
2) Pruning
3) Management.

These are the three basic things to ensure the sustenance of the farm. Both farms I visited are organic farms meaning that they applied organic fertilizers. Here are some pics to look at.

Those interested to order the organic fertilizer can email me at zainudinhaji@gmail.com or call my handphone 012 3535 411 (see below). Detail testimony will be provided,

I have just planted the yellow type. I have more than 2,000 cuttings.

Organic ferilizer derived from fish (New Zealand product)

MAHA 2008

2008-07-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

Well the Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro-Tourism (M.A.H.A. ) 2008 is very soon that will be held 11-23 August 2008. I have been assigned to become a judge in the fruit category. This means that I have to go to see all participated farms around the country in order to propose which are the best farms. The farms included guava, citrus, dragon fruits, salak, starfruits, mango etc. It is hefty alot of work organised by the Department of Agriculture as the secretariat.

I chose to go Sabah this time where I went to see citrus in Tawau, salak and dragon fruits in Sandakan and guava in Tenom.
View from Crocker Range

Most of the farms were very coordinated and managed well.

Coconut milk is sold everywhere in Sabah

Beautiful weed/legume I found

Dragon fruits flowering prosufely

Packaging of dragon fruits in boxes

Dragon fruits flowering

Dragon fruit plantation in Beluran area

Dragon fruits with heavy flowering

Salak plant and fruits in Sandakan area (below)

I enjoyed my trip from Tawau to Sandakan then go to Kota Kinabalu and later to Tenom by road.

Lighting for Dragon Fruits

2008-06-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

Lighting installed in dragon fruit farm

I came across innovative farmers somewhere in Johore who manage to induce floweeing in dragon fruits using lights. Of course there are costs incurred however the yield produced could offsets the initial investments. As we know that that dragon fruits is a long day plant where more sunshine is needed especially to trigger flowering.

Flower buds emerged from terminal shoots

Here are some pics that can shared with hobbyists, planters and farmers alike so that they have some idea of what I am talking about.

There are more things to find out in particular;
a) what is the voltage and how long is used?
b) when and how should be it installed ?
c) the distant and height from each tree?

These are some questions that I posed during my visits to the farm. Should anyone interest to know more pls let me know.

More on dragon fruits

2008-06-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Everything goes up...fuel, fertilizers, rice etc. How can we save costs on planting? It is a big challenge that we face in this quarter of century

More dragon fruit diseases-poster

2008-02-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

There was a poster at the National Fruit Conference 2007 in Johere Bahru, Malaysia. It covers fungal and bacterial diseases. Why this happens and how to solve it.
Above in a poster regarding to dragon fruit diseases.

Should any one interested please email me or call me.

Disease -Free Dragon Fruit Planting Materials

2008-02-01T06:08:00.000-08:00

The dragon fruit is usually propagated by seeds or cuttings. Although several studies have examined these general propagation methods of dragon fruit, no widely available information currently exist as to the protocols for production of high quality planting material of Selenicereus megalanthus via tissue culture system. Even in the absence of an efficient protocol, there remains the need to quantify the impact of micropropagated material of yellow dragon fruits in the field.

Plant tissue culture is an alternative method of propagation for large scale production of plants. Several researchers have developed a protocol for micropropagation of yellow pitaya. However, these reports lack the comprehensive key information on the large production of using tissue culture technology for the clonal propagation of yellow dragon fruit planting material.

Dragon Fruit Disease

2008-01-22T16:54:00.000-08:00

Our early findings was that 'white spots' caused on dragon fruits branches was due to sucking insects. I have gone at least three farms around the country to find out what is the main cause of white spots. From my observations, we detected no fungus or bacteria- like diseases. Our hypotheses is that the pathogen attack or damage only when there were punctures or small holes made by insects.Therefore, the disease came in later once the tissue ruptured. Our mission is to control the vector. It is not easy to find the vector because it very very small or minute to be seen with our naked eyes.
Our solution was try avoid those insects using organic oils etc. Here are my comments in Malay language

Dari pengamatan yang dibuat, adalah di percayai keratan batang dan buah yang dihantar buah naga tuan telah di serang oleh kumbang halus (scale insect) dimana kesan gigitan terdapat pada kulit. Ada kemungkinan pendapat adalah disebabkan bakteria.

Rawatan pemberian racun berbentuk `broadspectrum’ seperti Decis, Rogor atau mempunyai racun yang mempunyai bahan aktif `dimethoate’ adalah difikirkan sesuai. Sekiranya jangkitan disebabkan bakteria racun Kocide boleh digunakan.

Disamping itu kebersihan ladang seperti rumput rumpai hendaklah dijaga. Syor kami ialah menyembur tanaman buah naga (dragon fruits) dengan baja foliar, racun kulat dan racun serangga berbentuk `cocktail’ iaitu bebe ntuk campuran. (10 g Welgrow (baja foliar); 10 g Lebacid (racun serangga) dan 20 g Manzate-D (racun kulat) di campur dengan 1 gelen air.

Agronomic Practices

2007-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

Pruning is very important in dragon fruit cultivation. Besides, it provides good framework and balance for plant canopy, it allows good ventilation for plants. Small insects might live within the compact canopy making spraying of insects difficult. I have observed that farmers practise the wrong way to prune dragon fruits making it attack by insects badly.

The top pic shows how farmers pruned dragon fruits the wrong way.It has become multi layer that caused heavy load to the support stand.

Below is the correct way how to prune dragon fruit. The top part should be free from new shoot growth allowing sunshine to penetrate and good ventilation.

Visit To Brunei Darulsalam

2007-12-01T02:50:00.000-08:00

I had spent my holidays in Brunei from 26th to 30th November.This is my first visit to the country. I crossed through Limbang, then to Temburong. What is interesting to me is that there are farmers already planting this fruits. I saw they used 2 cuttings per stake made from 'berlian' wood.
I had observed how the farmers made their own organic fertilizers and the farm was very clean. I traced out some secrets of how they control diseases using the cheapest way. The only disease I noticed was brown rust spot caused by Dothirella but it is under control.The weather was wet and dry. Brunei had a very good potential to produce dragon fruits however early works should be done such as suitable land establishment, good and reliable planting materials, management practices and marketing as well downstream activities must be well planed and worked out. The people are eager to plant if the incentives are right.

Prior going to Brunei, I was asked to go to investigate disease breakout in Johore. About 50 acres were infected. What I observed that due to flooding, but the farmers did not control the disease from spreading partly due to bad sanitation and field agronomic activities.Apart from that farmers did not practice the correct pruning techniques, the canopy was dense and crowded that harvest a lot of insects and fungus.One more thing they did not pruned at the joints, making easy infection of diseases to enter if the branches were half-pruned.

My Dragon Fruit Poster in Bahasa Melayu

2007-10-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

I have to present a poster as well as fruit samples including tissue culture plantlets at one of the agricultural convention in the country. Here is my poster in Malay language.

A Fruitful Farm

2007-10-07T07:12:00.001-07:00

This dragon fruit farm was located on a former oil palm plantation situated in Malacca. It was clean and fruiting well. One of the problems I managed to counter was that the fruits were attacked by fruit flies- no incidence have ever reported some where else. So the best way to control is hand-wrapped all the fruits at early stage of fruiting.

Dragon Fruit Plantation

2007-09-21T19:35:00.002-07:00

Malaysia is blessed with good tropical climate. Besides fruits, many crops can be grown here like rubber, oil palm, paddy and cocoa . One of the most recent newcomers in the Malaysian fruit industry is dragon fruits (Hylocereus polyrhizus). After many trials and errors, dragon cultivation has made its way in the Malaysian fruit industry. Unlike Vietnam and Thailand which had long history of dragon fruit growing, Malaysia is keeping good pace to lead its niche market due to high local demand.

The local name for dragon fruit is ‘buah naga’ or ‘buah mata naga’. In Malaysia, the scale for dragon fruit crop cultivation is very small which is about 300 hectares compared to other crops however, the rate of expansion is increasing tremendously fast. The dragon fruit growing areas are in the states of Johor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Pulau Pinang and Sabah.

Since dragon fruits originated from different climatic conditions, it has to undergo environmental adaptations and agromanagement practices.

If R & D is been prioritize, then one day it will become one of the leading export earner of Malaysia. The pic above shows one of the dragon fruit plantation in Malaysia .This farm is araound 100 acres. There many such farms in the country.

Diseases of dragon fruits.

2007-09-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Like many other plants, dragon fruits are also attacked by diseases. We have found common disease that attack and caused infection. The common ones are bacteria and fungus.

Dragon fruit flowering

2007-09-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Dragon fruits flowers after 1 year old after planting. There are many factors that cause flowering. 1. Variety - some variety can flower very fast. 2. age of cuttings -cuttings taken from watershoots are not good because they are soft. 3. Adequate fertilization.-correct NPK is needed nutrient balance.

I sometimes see flower abortion. This can be due several reasons. a) not enough nutrient- should give foliar nutrients b) flower did not pollinate. - the stigma dries up and abort ; may be no pollinators around.

Technical Posters on Dragon Fruits

2007-08-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have just came back from Sabah, East Malaysia. I was attending the 18th Malaysian Society of Plant Physiology (MSPP) Conference at Le Meredian Hotel. It was officiated by the Sabah State Agrciculture Minister. I saw a lot of new and old faces get back together. There are various topics discussed from global warming to dragon fruits planting. The meeting was diverse and many new ideas discussed. There was a post tour conference to Kinabalu Parks and Poring which I had been.

I had the opportunity to give an oral presentaion on dragon fruits entitles "Challenges in Dragon Fruits Growing in Malaysia". There were 3 other papers related to dragon fruits. I have managed to include two posters here.

Dragon Fruit Phenology

2007-08-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Dragon fruits mature very fast. It take a year to produce fruits.The fruiting cycle take about 45 days.

Techniques in Dragon Fruit Planting

2007-08-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

There are many techniques of how dragon fruits can be planted. It can be planted in row, single and so forth. Not only dragon fruits can be planting as big plantations but it could planted in a house compound. Both big and small growers can benefit from this crop- as only planting techniques needs some changes. Be creative

Tallest Dragon Fruits in The World

2007-08-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! I have never seen such tall dragon fruits like this. It was taken in Tawau, Sabah during my recent visit there. The cactus grow on a big dipterocarp, 100 ft in height. The epiphytic cactus grows happily on the tree stems. I notice no fruits bearing that time. I conclude that dragon fruits need full sunshine hours to bear flowers and fruits.

Close Planting of Dragon Fruits

2007-07-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

The normal or conventional planting density in dragon fruits is 2 meter X 3 meter (6 ft.X 9 ft.).This means that for an acre only 2,000 plants could be planted.It is a good idea if the planting density could be increased so that many plants could be plant per unit area.
I have seen close planting of dragon fruits in Chiangmai. However, during my visit it was not fruiting season. I think their planting density is 1 ft X 10 ft.

Dragon Fruits Adds Another Niche

2007-07-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Since the last ten years we hardly see dragon fruits grown in tropical conditions. It has been known that dragon fruits are long day plants.Meaning that it makes food at night. However, lately we can see it has emerged as a newcomer in the tropical fruit industry. It is been liken by everybody from different walks of like. I believe that climate change has something to do with the adaptations of the crop in the hot and humid tropics like Malaysia.

In the pic above, dragon fruit outshines guava,mangosteen, 'buah tampoi' and rambutan.These fruits make a beautiful basket of fruits.

mmm..what a quench!

2007-06-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Dragon fruits are not only consumed as fresh but could be turned into straight drinks. It could be mixed with ice and a little bit of sugar. Muawh! What a taste!

Yellow Dragon Fruit

2007-06-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yellow dragon fruits are one the varieties planted here.However, only it is planted in a small scale.I have tasted and it is very sweet but the seeds are larger than the white and red varieties. The skin colour looks yellow and the fruits are quite small between 150 to 250 g compared to the red varieties which easily weighs up to 600-800g.

Red and White flesh Dragon fruits.

2007-06-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

It very interesting to note that the popular dragon fruits in this country is red and white flesh varieties eventhough there are yellow ones. From reports that the red pigment is made up of betanin , betacyanin and lycopene. These are anthocyanins group which are antioxidants good for the body metabolisme.

Betanins are " An anthocyanin that contains nitrogen and constitutes the principal pigment of garden beets.

Report says that Betanin, or Beetroot Red, is a red glycosidic food dye obtained from beetroot; its glycone, obtained by hydrolyzing away the glucose molecule, is betanidin. As a food additive, its E number is E162. Betanin degrades when subjected to light, heat, and oxygen; therefore, it is used in frozen products, products with short shelf life, or products sold in dry state. [1]

Betanin can survive pasteurization when in products with high sugar content. Its sensitivity to oxygen is highest in products with high content of water and/or containing metal cations (eg. iron and copper); antioxidants like ascorbic acid and sequestrants can slow this process down, together with suitable packaging. In dry form betanin is stable in presence of oxygen.

Betanin is usually obtained from the extract of beet juice; the concentration of betanin in red beet can reach 300-600 mg/kg. Other dietary sources of betanin and other betalains include the opuntia cactus, Swiss chard, and the leaves of some strains of amaranth.

While , lycopene is a red, fat-soluble pigment found in vegetables, and most commonly found in tomatoes. It is one of a family of pigments called carotenoids. Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigments responsible for the brightly colored fall leaves and the vivid colors of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. In fruits and vegetables, these pigments range in hue from bright yellow in squash, to orange in carrots, to bright red in tomatoes and peppers.

Lycopene (as well as other carotenoids such as lutein and beta-carotene) may also help prevent macular degenerative disease, the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 65.

Lycopene is the only micronutrient whose serum level was shown to be inversely related to the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

Nutritional values of dragon fruits

2007-06-06T17:49:00.001-07:00

It seems that dragon fruits had high carotene contents compare with pineapple and mango.

Visit to Dragon Fruits Farm

2007-06-06T01:33:00.001-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to visit dragon fruit farms (40 acres); one hour drive from my office. Besides, dragon fruits this farm had bananas; coconut, jackfruit, anona and papaya.

Lecture on Dragon Fruits Growing

2007-06-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

This week I had the chance to give lecture series on "Dragonfruit Growing: Cultivation and Technology" to growers alike.That this moment I am waiting and ready. I have had also many requests from interested parties to set up dragon fruit growing in a large scale. I also managed to do some economic analysis esp IRR and NPV which I have left before.

Growing Dragon Fruits Needs Concrete Support

2007-05-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Dragon fruits are easy to grow however it needs support or stake to stand on. Its succulent stems are tender and branches upwards and later downwards. Long and mature branches also needs support to rest on before flowering commences. The soil must be good condition such as sand soil and sand loam soil because their have rich an organic material for growing

Dragon fruits -the miracle fruits

2007-05-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Besides being consumed fresh, the red dragon fruit can be processed into cordial, jam,wine and other products. There are reports that the content and the skin of dragon fruit can become natural food coloring and lipsticks. This natural food coloring is safe to be used because it does not have any side effects and no harm to our health. Young shoots can be cooked just like we cook lady's finger. Its nutritious. There is another source vegetable which had medicinal value in our diet. The dry flowers can be processed to make tea.

The potential of the dragon fruit plantation to increase is very bright due to untapped downstream activities of its by products. This is supported by early investment return, less risk high market demand compared other tropical fruits.